



.7* A 








SPEECH 



OF THE 

HON. WILLIAM GASTON, 

OF JWRTH CAROLINA, 

ON THE 

HILL TO AUTHORISE A LOAN 

OP 

TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. 

DELIVERED IN THE 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

FEBRUARY, 1814* 



GEORGETOWN: 

PRINTED BY ROBERT ALLESON. 
1814. 



.£ 



s i e 2. o 



SPEECH. 



*}£r. Chairman, 

1 fear 1 am aliout to engage in a very injudicious attenvpl- 
I fear that the patience of the committee is exhausted, and that it 
would be idle to hope for their attention. It was originally ray 
wish, to claim their notice at an early stage of the debate; but I 
found this wish was not to he effected, but by a competition for 
the floor- and I thought such a competition Hot justified by the 
nature of the remarks which I had to submit. Under these im- 
pressions 1 had made up my mind to wait until some favorable un- 
occupied interval should be presented ; and 1 should not now have 
presumed to anticipate other gentlemen, who seem disposed to 
address you, but for some extraordinary observations which have 
just been uttered, and which in my opinion demand immediate ani 
mad version. 

The gen tl man from Tennessee, who has this moment resumed 
his seat, (Mr. Grundy) seems a little sore that his doctrine of Mo- 
ral Treason, which he promulgated at the last session, should 
have been so vehemently oppugned by the persons for whose bene- 
fit he had compiled it. 1 am not of the number of those, Mr. 
Chairman, who have deemed this doctrine worthy of examination. 
As originally understood, it was so preposterous, and so repugnant 
to the principles of our constitution, that every intelligent free- 
man found its refutation in the consciousness of his own liberty. 
By subsequent explanations and definitions, it has been so attenu- 
ated and subtilized, that what was never very distinct, now almost 
eludes perception. According to the last attempt at exposition, if 
it have any meaning, it would seem to embrace systematic efforts, 
to persuade capitalists not to lend money, and the unthinking youth 
not to enlist as soldiers, to carry on the war against Canada. His 
denunciations of such a system — of the existence of which I know 
nothing, and which, if it exist, is innocent or criminal, according 
to the motives from which it springs, pass by me altogether un- 
heeded. But his unfounded imputations upon some of the best 
men, and truest patriots of the country: and his attempt to sup- 
port his doctrine by their example ought to be repelled, and a vert 
short notice will suffice for that purpose, 



4 

I i gentleman has referred to the aetof 14th July, l'og. the 

much misrepresented and abused sedition law. It is difficult fot 

tm tn express m\ astonishment at the construction which he af- 

i ix , , t., the fii si *< ction of this act. Need we w under at any error, 

. ai anj prejudice, however irrati real, prevailing in 

and party opinions, when we find a 

I tgioiml gentleman, assigning to a law a meaning, which, hat 

luil we have heard, would have been pronunced impossible, 
on the part of an 3 man of ordinary good sense - ; The fust section 
of this la* declares, thai if anj persons shall conspire together, 
with intent to oppose any measures of the government of the U. 

. and in pursuance of Buck intent, shall counsel, or attempt. 

, , n i-. . ,, - in; ctions, riots, %e. tln-y shall be deemed guilty of 
a misdemeanor, punishable, by fine and imprisonment* Can it be 

.-i v to ask, whal was meant iii tliis law, by tlie expression, 
" with intent to oppose any measures of the government ?" To op* 
■osje, in its plain origifpU sense, necessarily implies physical re» 

ice — the exercise of force. It in metaphorically used, indeed, 
la signify dissuasion, as the word to eomb.it, is Implied to denote a 
controversy inargumentj and a law prohibiting single combats might 
.-ih w« II be interpreted to forbid controversies in discourse, as a law 
prohibiting opposition to the measures of government, construed to 
Uterdiet the expression of honest opinions thai may retard their 
Operation. Hut the aet is slill more explicit. To constitute crime.it 
requires nut onlj that the persons bIiooW eoml ine, " with intent to 
oppost the measures of government^ bul that in pursuance of such 
intent they should proei ed to M counsel or attempt to procure insur- 

ns, riots," v\e. The design oftheacl is unequivocal; it is to 
eh il\ punish incipient U tson, before ii has manifested itself in 
actual war against the nation. It was altogether unnecessary, if 
there had been anj eommon law ipplicable in th* courts of the 
I ti'ited St ;it ■ «- ; for in every goverm ut under Heaven, the acta 
'i «. are made punishable. A doubt whether the 
comm i ice, alone occasioned the pt • 

of tin- law. Ye\ wi asked, if in the - ir-iy, men 

fiad nun! in il t iget] . ,, from lendi money to 

\ rament, or from • in the army, whether tli \ could 
i it nave '■< en punished under I s law ? No sir — no sir. There 
wa» a rating officer in tl e United States so ignorant of 

f.i- duty, a- to dare to bring forward an indictment upon such a 

t xl - 

To the m\f section of this abased aet the gentleman has given 
an interpretation, ns destitute of plausibility as hi* exposition 
of tli' i i - ion To find a warrant for his doctrine of mo* 
i - its odium, by easting reproach on others., 
I man has thai 'I that this section subjected to indict- 

ment and puni liniciit the publication of scandalous and maliei- 
rit - > • i.si ihi government) although they might be i 



and that had it not been for the third scetion of the act, which, 
his predecessor moved in the house of representative!, after the bill 
had passed the senate. 1 lie truth would have afforded no defenee on 
an indictment for y libel against the government. Sir, (bis position 
is utterly untenable : no part &f it is true. The gentleman mast 
be presumed to knew, and ought to recollect, that when an of- 
fence is created by statute, every word of the description of the 
offence is material and essential. What are the words describing 
the otfence ? ''if any person shall write, print, or publish any 
false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government/' 
&<•. It is a necessary part of the offence that the writing should 
b^ false. Jf it be not false, then the crime has not been committed, 
the law has not been broken, and punishment cannot be inflicted* 
Why then, I may be asked, was the third section, moved by 
Che gentleman's preck eessor, inserted in the law? The answer is, 
to avoid all cavil, all real or pretended doubt, all foundation for 
the charge that would have been made had it been rejected. It 
might, have been pretended, that as on an indictment for libel at 
common law the truth or falsehood of the charge was not a matter 
of inquiry before the jury, so on an indictment for libel under this 
act, notwithstanding ito plain words, the falsehood of the publi- 
cation was not material to constitute the , (fence; and had the pro- 
posed amendment been rejected, from the specimen we have this 
day had of the course of legal thinki . of one of the bar of Ten- 
nessee, there is a moral certainty that the law would have been 
there stigmatized as d 'Signed to prohibit the publication of truth. 
To adopt the amendment removed all pre( \ for such a misrepre- 
sentation. It was accordingly incorporated into the law; and 
to show that if was not introductory of any new principle, it was 
expressed as declaratory of the preceding section, " And be it 
enacted And declared, that it shall be lawful for the defendant, on 
trial, to give in evidence, in his defence, the truth of the matter 
charged as a libel."' No, sir, the idea of punishing U-uth when 
published against the officers of the government was reserved 
until more recent times — until the abused sedition law had ex- 
pired, and the champions of a free press were safely fixed in 
power. Surely the gentleman has not been so inattentive , to the 
course of public proceedings, as never to have heard of the case 
of Harry I'roswell. He for an alleged libel on Mr. Jefferson, was 
indicted at common law, not under the horrible sedition act; lie 
was not permitted to prove the truth of his publication, and was 
thus convicted ! 

I have done, sir, with the gentleman fro'n ''Vunesee, his moral 
treason, and his exposition of the sedition 1. -• — and will endeavor 
to call your attention to subjects not a i so foreign from the 

bill noon the table. The object, of the hill is to authorize a loan 
to the government, of the United States. The precise pi 
before you is to declare what sum shall be borrowed; "twenty-five 



6 

million* df dollar*." — Enormous as is the addition which is thus 

ietl to I made to our d bts, could it be shown to be necesr- 

li^li any purposes demaifded bj the honor and wei- 

i.;%. ii assuredly would meet wiiJi no opposition 

from me. U a loan wanted, or revenue required to enabJe the 

• i !<> paj off its just in. - : to give security and 

anj portion of our citi- 
. . . in eur gallant navy, (that precious relict of 
belter days) such encou I and extension as i:»:i\ enable it 

m ire eft'< ctualh to \ indicate our rights on the element w here they 
M', roice and assistance shall Ijc cheerfully 
rendered to obtaiu them. Lei the present proposition be with- 
i, and let it be moved to fill the blank with such sum as shall 
b-- ad plj any deficienc} of revenue wanted for these 

purposes, and I will - icond the motion. Nay, sir, should the present 
i for \ v l;il*' ii is pending, a smaller sura can- 

not be moved) and none of those who are most conversant with 
■ • *. should come forward with a further jiro- 

I i m, I will myself undertake to move the sum which shall 
app ar competent to effect these objects. But, sir, this enormous 
sum is wanted not for these purposes; it is avowedly not necessa- 
ry, except locai \ <'ii lb of invasion and conquest against 
To ihis scheme I have never been a friend: but to, 
. I i:..\.' invincible objections, founded on con- 
siderations of justices humanity, and national policy. These ob- 
I wish to explain and enforce, and thus avail myself of 
I porlunity of <. • some of :i" •■■■■ >-t interesting tojiics 
• •'» out of the alarming state of the nation. 1 fear that 
all 1 <. in do will avail n ut, sir, i • res uting a respecta- 
ble portion of the American [>''<ij>le w ho are i uttering m i:!i peculiar 
pressure of this unfortunate and mismanaged 
!i me, belies i no good i> to gr iu on; of it, ami n ho 
h ml. from iU contiunance, evils, compared with which all 
J (I are hut trifles Ii ;ht as air — 1 should he un- 
ih in i . if 1 did t)Ol iiili-rj — [foils 
; In performing this d\nx. I 
■n js 1 do think. Endeavoring to use such 
; .lli self-respect, and decency to- 
il) opinion, 1 mean freely to exer- 
i to my station. 

- iou is in: ceurate : once, in- 

thc i ighi off , - .-in. It. 

.:<• for < \ i iv member to 

'.. 'I beneficial to the country, 

- i eould adduce; to offer 

> as to render them, in 

the reasons of 

;• h. was called to vote, and 









7 
endeavor to impress his opinion on others. No doubt a vast por- 
tion nt'tlie good people of litis republic yet believe thai such is ibe 
course of proceedings here; Little do tbey dream of the compli- 
cated machinery, by means of which every pivilege, except thai 
of thinking, is made to depend on the pleasure, the courtesy, the 
whim of the majority. — By certain interpolations into our prac- 
tice, hut which no where show their hideous front in our writ, en 
code, the system of suppressing the liberty of speech is brought 
to a degree of perfection that almost astonishes its authors. A 
gentleman wishes to bring forward an original proposition- 
lie must first state it, and obtain permission from a majority 
of the house, to let it be considered, before he can shew the pro- 
priety of adopting it, or ask even for a decision upon it. Thus is 
annihilated the right of originating a proposition. But a propo- 
sition is originated by others, it is passed through the ordeal of 
consideration, and he is desirous of amending its delects, or of 
exposing its impropriety. This is, perhaps, deemed inconvenient 
by the majority. It may give them trouble, or bring forward a"*" 
discussion which they do not wish the people to hear, or detain 
them too long from their dinners — a new species of legerdemain 
is resorted to. The previous question, utterly perverted from its 
original and legitimate use, is demanded; the demand is support- 
ed by a majority. In an instant all the proposed amendments dis- 
appear ; every tongue is fettered, so that it can utter but aye or no, 
and the proposition becomes a law without deliberation, without 
correction, & without debate. And this process is called legislation! 
And the hall in which these goodlv doings arc transacted is some- 
times termed the Temple of Liberty ! Sir, this procedure must be 
corrected, or freedom is ejected from her citadel, and wounded in 
her very vitals. Inconveniencies also result to the majority from 
this tyrannical exercise of power, sufficient, perhaps, to counterba- 
lance all the benefits which can be derived from it. Gentlemen of- 
ten complain that the minority do not pursue the practice which is 
adopted by minorities elsewhere. In England, say they, the op- 
position address the house and the nation only on great fundamen- 
tal questions involving disputed principles, and do not hang on the 
skirts of every bill lighting the ministry, through all the details of 
their measures. Why is not the same course pursued here ? The 
answer is obvious. Here the minority are not allowed to bring for- 
ward these great fundamental questions — they have no opportunity 
of shewing their views, except such as may lie casually afforded by 
some measure of the majority, on which they arc good natured 
enough to allow debate. Unless they avail themselves of such a 
bill in every stage of it, as a peg on which to hang their observa- 
tions, they must be utterly mute. Thus it happens too, that there 
is frequently not any discernable connection between the topics dis- 
cussed, and the subject supposed to be under debate. Perhaps 
the very coure I am pursuing is an apt illustration of these facts. 



8 
wr. ks since I submitted to the house a resolution which I 
Ibou -In emiuentli desen ing of attention — a resolution "that pend* 
iairour aegoeiation with G Britain, it is inexpedient to prosecute 
a u.tr ui i'i\ asiou & conquest against the Canada*." This resolution 
could imi be discussed, for the house would not vouchsafe to it a 
consideration. But) "•*. on the proposition now before you, debate is 
indulged, and baa assumed a Latitude thai Beema to permit every 
thing eonaeeted with the war, I am willing to embrace the occa- 
sion in support my fai orite proposition] to « hich a regular hearing 
has been refused. Gratefni even for this opportunity, I ackuow- 
theeonrteai n\ fi i< li is shewn me by Che majority; sorely as I 
be degradation of indirectly using as a favor, what, as a free- 
ad the representative of freemen, I ought openly to enjoy as 

a right. 

It is \,ty far from my design to enter into a particular inquiry 
j« to the origin of this war, or as to its causes whether technical 
or real, Such an inquiry would present a theme too important and 
too extensive to be taken up as collateral or subsidiary to some 
otinr investigation. At the present moment too, it is not so essential 
to-knou bow this war bas been produced, as it is to ascertain how 
il ought to be prosecuted, and how it may he speedily and fairly 
brought to a close. Bo far only as a knowledge of the origin and 
- of this war may he useful in producing this result, is it my 
purpose now to eonsider them. 

An honorable gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) 
claims for thi, war the character of defensive. He has properly 
remarked that a war defensive in its origin may be offensive in its 
lions, fc of consequence that its eharaetei is not defined by the 
aa ure of these operations. But, sir, he is incorrect in supposing 
thai its character is to be tested by the motive which occasioned its 
institution. War is otl'eiisn e or defensive, simply, as it is institut- 
ed bl or against a nation. It is an appeal to force to decide contro- 
versies between sovereigns who admit of no other tribunal to de- 
termine their rights. There is a perfect analogy in this respect 
between nations at war. and individuals litigating in a court of 
He who commences the process is the actor — he who is 
gammoned to the controversy, lias the defensive part, and it is in 
this rieu immaterial whether the motive to litigation he found in 
an honest desire to claim what is due, or in the malignant wish to 
•ppn -s and defraud. For tbe correctness of these ideas, I rely 

notoa in> <i\mi judgment. Thisoughl not without hesitation to he 

. that of the honorable gentleman, who, independently of 

roonal claim to attention, as chairman of the committee of 

| --I relations must be presumed to be particularly converaani 

with all questions connected with national law. A.ny person who 

Lheeuriositj to test these sentiments by the authority of jurists 

will find them explicit!] recognized by Burlamaqui, vol.2, part 

ft, rl.. :,;. J. . :>. — and by \ alhl. b. 8. ehapt, J. §. .{."> and .C 



Nor let it be deemed, sir, of no importance whither this war be 
called defensive or offensive! It is always of moment that things 
should becalled by their right names. Many of the vices ami most 
of t he errors of nun arise from the misapplication of terms. The 
reasoner, who uses words to convey a meaning variant from their 
received signification, will probably occasion error, however pre- 
cise his definitions.. In spite of definitions, the hearer appropri- 
ates to his expressions the sense which usage his associated, and 
a confusion of ideas fatal to truth is the unavoidable consequence. 
Many phrases too, besides their primary meaning, convoy a secon- 
dary sense of commendation or blame. By an artful use of these, the 
sophist is enabled to convert the honest prejudices of man, the guards 
of his security, into the intsruments of his deception. The saga( ions 
Mirabeau, than whom none better understood the arts which render 
the human understanding & passions subservient to the tyranny of 
fraud, he who so long ''rode in the whirlwind, and directed the 
storm" of the most furious of revolutions, compressed the elements 
of his science into (me setentious maxim "words are things." But 
the distinction between offensive and defensive war has peculiar 
claims upon our n ■■collection. So fatal is war to the best interests of 
the human family that a tremendous responsibility always rests up- 
on the nation that commences it, This responsibility attaches 
through all its stages, and is awfully increased into certain guilty 
by the neglect of any fair opportunity t» restore the relations of 
peace. Besides, the consideration that the war was offensive in 
its origin — that consideration which emphatically creates the obli- 
gation to terminate its honors as speedily as justice will permit — ■ 
will frequently be found to present the greatest obstacles to efforts 
at reconciliation. 

The advocates of this war, vieiug with each other in zeal for 
its justification and continuance, do not precisely agree in opinion, 
as to its causes, or as to the objects for which il is to Ik* prosecuted. 
The gentleman from Pennsylvania who presides over yourjudi- 
eian committee (Mr. Ingersoli) in an elaborate argument seems 
desirous to prove (1 am not certain which) either (hat the war is a 
consequence of the violation on the pari of Great Britain of his 
favorite principle -'free ships make free goods"'' or i*. t;» result in the 
establishment of this principle. This comprehensive dogma the 
gentleman contends to be a pari of the original unadulterated code of 
national law, consecrated by tin' treat) of Utrecht, strenuously as- 
serted by Britain herself in her dispute with Spain, in the year 
1737, recognized in her commercial treaty with Prance in 1786, & 
vitally essential to our maritime interests, The gentleman from 
Virginia whom t yesterday heard with much pleasure (Mr. Jack- 
son) dissents from his political friend, und declares thai this max- 
im has never been asserted by our government under any adminis- 
tration as founded, on the common law of nations. Aithougli t!»« 

B 



10 
fromVirg ii this Tetpect unquestionably correct, 

i certain that the chairman of the judiciary committed 
. on >oui in attributing to the administration an i x- 
; by this war some such theory. That the 
■ i nil that ii covers from capture, is a very: 
nient doctrinefor a nation frequently at urar with an adver- 
idedly superior maritime strength. France, who with oc- 
tal 6hort intervals, has been for centuries at war w itli England) 
li.is \ ei \ naturallj w ished to incorporate tliis doctrine into the law 
of nations. Her imperial master has adopted ii as one of the ele- 
i ry principles of his new maritime code, which he solemnly 

promulgated in his decree of Berlin, of November, 180 §» and in 
support of which he has used every violence and stratagem to ar- 
m\ the nations of the world into one great maritime confederacy. 
At least asearlj as the infamous Turreau letter of June, lsim, 
the executive of this country was perfectly apprised of the exis- 
tence of such a confederacy, of the purposes which it was to up- 
hold, ami of the determination oi Franc'' to bribe or compel our ac- 
j lt i to it. The decree of the great protector of the confedera- 
cy, of the dale of April, 1811, though probably not issued till 
Maj 1812, announced in language sufficiently distinct that this 
claim had been so far complied with on our part as to exempt us 
from the further application of the penalties of disobedience — And 
our declaration of war against the sole recusant of this imperial 
theory was proclaimed by Napoleon to his senate as a spirited and 
g< nerous exertion to vindicate the new religion of the Bag, which 
like the superstition of the sanetuary was to protect every fraud, 
and shelter every crime. Extravagant, therefore, as the positions 
of the gentleman from Pennsylvania maybe thought by the far 
greater part of this committee, the) maj have more countenance 
m the administration than is^enerally suspected, and on this 
account may deserve a rapid and transient examination. 

The assertion thai bj the general law of nations the cha- 
racter of th ■ ess I .:■ s a chara i r to the goods is unequivo- 
eal I. The actual reverse of the assertion is main- 

tained l»\ Jurists generally with a harmony that forbids doubt. 
Instead ofd tailing their opinion separately, permit me to give 
th< je of one who wished well the gentleman's doctrine, who 

had often earefiillj explored the musty volumes of national law, 
and who was never apl to carry his admissions beyond the line 
which candor prescribed. Mr. Jefferson in lii>< letter to Genet, of 
July) 1798, expresses himself thus, «* I believe it ,c€mntk be 
I bui tli;ii \>\ the general law of nations, the goods ofa 
I found in the vessel of an enemj are free, and the goods of 
an euemj found in the vessel of a friend are lawful prize. It is 
true (hat itindrj nations, desirous of avoiding the inconveniences 
of having tbeii pped at sea, ransacked, carried into 

port. I under pretence of having enemy's goods on 



11 

board, have in many instances, Introduced another principle be- 
tween them, that enemy bottoms Bhall make enemy good , and thai 
friendly bottoms shall make friendly goods'; a principle much 
Jt.-s embarrassing to commerce, and equal to all panic- in point of 
gain or loss — but ibis is altogether the effect of particular treat:/, 
controtding in special cases the general principles of the Ian- of 
nations, and therefore taking effect between such nations only as have 
agreed to cmtroul it." It' i lie gentleman will examine the trea- 
ties to which he has adverted, the commercial treaty of Utrecht, 

between England and France (which by the bye the house oft i- 

mons refused to sanction) and the subsequent commercial treaty 
of Mr. Pitt, in 178&, he will find the language on this bead une- 
quivocal. The arrangement is declared to be made w nil a ^ iew to 
prevent the embarrassments and distentions ibat would arise with- 
out such an arrangement — or in other words, from the application 
of the principles of the common law of natrons. Nor is it at all 
strange that Britain in a commercial treaty, from which she ex- 
pected to derive immense advantages, should acquiesce in such an 
arrangement as between her and France. For it is obvious that 
no practical effect could result from it, except when one was at 
peace and the other at war. And such a state of things basso 
rarely happened that its recurrence might be numbered among po- 
litical impossibilities. 

The " no search" clamour in England of 1737, which the 
gentleman has produced the parliamentary debates to prove, had 
about as much to do with the belligerent right to capture enemy's 
property conveyed in neutral ships, as the ^10 search'" cry made 
about thirty years afterwards in the case of John Wilkes ami 
Genera! Warrants. The dispute of 1737 with Spain grew out of 
a municipal claim asserted by that government and of the vigor- 
ous practice of their Guarda Castas to search British vessels 
hovering on the coasts of the -Spanish colonies for prohibited ar- 
ticles designed to be smuggled into them — A claim said to be 
repugnant to the treaty of Seville, and certainly very inconveni- 
ent to the illicit trade between Jamaica and the Spanish main — 
and a practice enforced with all that barbarity which usually 
characterises the minions of custom-house and revenue tyrants. 
How far the establishment of the gentleman's project would be 
beneficial to this country is perhaps not so clear. At a time when 
we bad no eapital ta afford employment to our navigation, it. 
certainly would have been advantageous. — Rut since that period 
has passed away, the most enlightened commercial men will tell 
you, they wish for no such innovation. lis effect would be, to 
give us, when neutrals, the benefit of being among the carriers 
of the commodities of the weaker maritime belligerent, tor freight. 
But the effect of the old principle is to give US the profit which 
results, not merely from the carriage, but the purchase and re- 
sale of these commodities, with almost a monopoly iu either 
market. 



12 

rhe t'-nt l<-m :iu Proin Pennsylvania) lias assigned another cauid 
war, in which lie has obtained the concurrence of several 
of hi the instigation by the British government of In- 
ili.ui wan. Allium cli. sir, this theme of popular declamation 1ms 
il become trite; although the tomahawk and the scalping 
1 ii -i» often brandished with rhetorical ambi-dexte- 
rity, that theii "ii almost ceases to excite interest; yet 
far be i' from m to think or spi >ak lightly of the cruelties of sa- 
in irfare, or i i I mj utter abhorrence and detestation 
of them. Hui ii i» a differentia very diiferent question, whether 
* lians have armed the Indians, to join in defence against 
a common invader, or had previously to war. instigated them to 
I :i-i u h. This last charge 1 do not believe — no 
evidi ii"' 1 ha* b ii 'i\< a i(» warrant it, that 1 have yet heard, (her 
the a nmeneeroent ni* Indian war. there 
I lysterj which ought to be dissipated, but which the go- 
vernment will not dispel. 1 hat 'ght, honesth sought for in- 
formation. OI' official, there i-^ little or none. Prom private 
sources, not likely in this respect to mislead, (for they arefriend- 
! this war, and connected with the western interest and feel 
1 : that the greal cause of Indian hostilities is to be found, w 

hislorj would prompt os to look for it — is to be found 
in our cupidit} for their lands, and their jealousy and dist rust of 

I force. Indian wars have been, until 

a few years back, almost uninterrupted in this country, both before 

ince the revolution. They need no other instigations than 

round in the inconsistent views, interests, claims, pas- 

and habits of neighboring yet distinct races of people, Sir, 

G i ison's :;• at) ofNov. 1809, was the mine of the great lu- 

spl ision. The Indians complained, 1 know nothow justly, 

that in that ti were cheated of lands, which the parties 

<" ii had no right to convey, and never meant to convey. There 

iitlemen [n this l< who know that Tecumseh imme- 

liis fixed purpose to vindicate by force 

union of the red men, the rights of his tribe, and the 

ndependenee of the whole race V.id we ail know 

U that, shortly after this treaty, the British 

ral of Canada caused it to be officially comrauni- 

ivernment of the United Mates iii.it the Indians 

•stile designs. Sir, the holy command "thou 

i-i thy neighbor," applies < \ en 

I will not sanction this charge without evidence, 

e»lestl vi lai this high injunction. I am not 

nf thai ne* ;.i school, which would construe this 

in, a-, the gentleman fi >m Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) 
; I the comma "Thou shalt not kill," as a 

5 solely to thi .lens !" 
But nearlj one and all, was declar- 



•i r» 

Lo 
eiJ to protect our seamen against impressment — in fashionable 
phrase, for ••Sailors' lli^hts.*' There is DO doubt, sir, that the 
Conflicting claims of the two countries on the subject of seamen j 
and Che occasional abuse of the practice of seareh for British 
seamen on board of American merchantmen) had eicited Beriotti 
dissatisfaction in America — yet 1 hazard nothing b_v the assertion) 
that the question of seamen s\as not a cause of tl i^ war. 1 re- 
member full well the characteristic special pleading of the gen- 
tleman from Tennessee on this subject' al the last session, "that 
he really could uot tell, whether, if the orders in e unci! bad 
repealed; we should have gone to war about seamen or nol :" bufaj 
sir. 1 consider this as little more or less than adherence to a cau- 
tious form, as a prostentandb bj way of excluding a conclusion, or 
in the nature of the commencement of an answer to a bill in chan- 
cery, in which the defendant lakes care to save to himself now, & 
at all times hereafter, all and all maimer of benefit of exception 
to the errors, that may be discovered in complainant's allega- 
tions, lam aware too of the very conspicuous blazon, which is 
given to our sailors' wrongs in the presid nTs War-message, and 
in the manifesto of the committee of foreign relations. But this 
proves no more, than that when war was determined on, it was 
deemed advisable to make out as strong a ease as possible, either 
to excite the sympathy of the world, or to rouse the indignation 
of our own citizens. The impressment of our seamen w;.s grouped 
in the picture with the dearly bought Henry plot, the, at least 
dubious, excitement of Indian hostilities, and the adjusted contro- 
versy about constructive blockades. 

No, sir, the question of seamen was not a cause of this War.— 
Mare than five years bad passed over since an arrangement on this 
question, perfectly satisfactory to our ministers, had been made 
with Great Britain ; but it pleased not the President, and was re- 
jected. Yet during (lie whole period that afterwards elapsed un- 
til the declaration of war, no second effort was made to adjust 
this cause of controversy. From December, ISO?, with very- 
short intervals we waged against Britain a commercial war, to 
coerce her into an observance of the rights we claimed at her hands. 
In every step of this system, whether embargo, non-intereourse, 
or non-importation, we avowed Che grounds of this contest, and 
the condition on which it should terminate — the orders in council, 
and their repeal. In April. 1809, the famous arrangement with 
Erskine was made, hailed by the well-meaning as a second treaty 
of amity between the two countries; yei it contained nothing upon 
the question of seamen. In the President's communication to 
Congress at the commencement of the War session, November, 1811, 
enumerating, in no light tone, our controversies with Britain, and 
recommending preparations for war,the impressment of seamen was 
not remembered. The seeretarj of state was earnestly engaged in a 
correspondence with the British minister, (Mr. Foster") at the seatof 



14 

government, until the declaration nfnt ar: nay, until offer if had p&9- 
led tJ utatives. The object of the correspondence 

u\ twedli wait, to bring our differences to an amicable close. 13m in 
tl i* correspondent e, the question of impressment finds no place, ex- 
it pi ineidi ntally, no I as a substantive topic of discussion. And in 
i n from our government to our minister in 

ltn- -i.i. stating the fact of a war declared against \\ i tain, and air 
i ii- justification, with a view lo be ct Lted to the 

! nment— j Mi. Monroe's letter t'> .1 hn Q. Adams, of 

Juls. ^U'.j''i. justification is n led sob ly on the ill iti^li orders 
i • il. These, tbt*n, were emphatically and exclusively the 

< An! had it imi been for verj many weight} consi- 

(I i .it be found in the state of the world, in the nature of 

the war i i Burop , out of x% !»■«'!> proceeded this violation of neu- 
tral u-'-: in (he eonduet of the other mighty belligerent, her 
*. her memfces and intrigues; and in the peculiar condition 
iiitn, actual!) growing into unexampled prosperity, un- 
d very* ite of things of which we eomplained — had it not 

i t considerations like these, that trumpet -tongued 

from the gulph into which we were about to plunge, the 
orders in council would bare justified the resort to war. At all 
j formed what mi 111 be termed a sufficient technical 
- of hostilities, much better than often figures with conspicu- 
in the ma nif sloes <>f princes, under the specious names 
of justice, iudep ndence and violated rights. But, *ir. scarcely 
had the fatal step been taken, and the destinies of our nation 
risqued on the fortune of ihc sword, when the obnoxious orders 
ked, the cause of war remot ed, and an honorable opportu- 
Hbrdt i! of returning ti> the happy state of peace, commerce, 
■ ' iceessful enterprise. How grateful must not the executive 
of :t eountry, %\ J. ; ► - •• policy \\;'.< Pundamentally pacific — how 
grateful must it not have been for this happy rescue from the hor- 
rors of w.ir! How rejoiced, that all had been effected without a 
struggl ■. whieh it \>^ th obj i to obtais by a bloody and pre- 
! Exulting tti shew, that when it unsheathed the 
sword, sol j».i«»i.n) but duly urged the reluctant deed, surely it 
hastened to return the unstained weapon to the scabbard, and ex- 
tend the blessed olive branch of peace. Was it so? — Sir, I never 
run think nl' the conduct of the executive upon this occasion, 
srithoul mingled reelings of surprise, regret and anger. Ii can be 
Recounted for but bj au infatuati m Ibe m »>t ;> ofound — an infatua- 
tion which i-> n"i yet dissipated, and which should fill every breast 
•villi in ms of that dreadful result, which, in the « i -tin in of 

1' pi d 'I ' the "darkened counsels" of rulers. 

mistake, naj - the gentleman from Pennsylva- 
nia, i' ord rs in council ni ! .• they were indeed 
withdrawn, but u ider a declaration, asserting the right to re-enact 
Id the violence of France, acquiesced inbj America. 



15 

renew the necessity for them. Will the administration, sir, bring 
forward this excuse? Will they take this ground ? No, sir, they 
cannot, they dare not. The President lias told the nation that iho 
revocation of the orders was substantially satisfactory — in his pe- 
culiar phraseology, "the repeal of the orders in council, was sus- 
ceptible of explanations meeting the j :si views of this govern- 
ment." Hm could lied-) otherwise, after his proclamation of the 
HA November, 1810, declaring the French edicts so revoked as to 
cease to be injurious to our rights ; a proclamation founded solely 
on the letter of the Duke of ('adore of the Bib of August, pro- 
mising a revocation. Does the gentletnan recollect the celebrated 
"Bien enteud'!," or proviso annexed to (his letter, "Provided, thai 
in consequence of this declaration the British government shall re- 
voke their orders in council, and renounce their new principles of 
blockade, or America shall cause her rights to be respected, con- 
formably to the act which you have com n inicated ?" Docs the gen- 
tleman remember (he tortuous and labored efforts of Mr. Secretary 
Monroe to explain this proviso i.ito a condition subsequent? To 
prove that it was designed only to assert the right of France to 
re-enact these decrees If Britain should persist in her orders, and 
we forbear from resisting them ? 8 ioh a condition subsequent an- 
nexed to a promised revocation of the French decrees had no ef- 
fect to impair its force — but the same annexed in terms to the ac- 
tual revocation of the British orders renders it entirely null ! — .No, 
sir, the executive cannot take this ground — his discreet friends 
will not take it for him. In the emphatic language of the elo- 
quent Junius this would indeed -resemble the termigant chastity 
of a prude, who prosecutes one lover for a rape, while she solicits 
the lewd embraces of another." 

But can it be urged, say the gentlemen, that the revocation of 
the orders in council removed all our causes of complaint, and left 
us nothing more to demand of the enemy ? No, sir, this is no! urg- 
ed — But it is contended, that as the revocation of the orders in coun- 
cil removed the cause of war, hostilities should instantly have 
been suspended, and a fair manly effort made to settle by negotia- 
tion all unadjusted differences which had not caused the war. A 
question of much importance and delicacy remained 1 1 be settled 
in relation to the search for British seamen on board our merchant 
vessels, and the occasional impressment of Americans. Under 
every administration of our country this question had excited great 
interest, and been attended with much difficulty. Of late indeed 
it had in some degree lost its interest, and partly because of the 
comparatively rare occurrence of the practice. The restrictive 
anti-commercial system had expelled native and foreign seamen 
in vast numbers from our country, and almost removed the tempt- 
ations to an exercise of what the British claimed as a maritime 
right — For five years before the war the dispute had in fact slept 
— Subjects more important pressed themselves on our notice, am? 



16 
pressed, that was postponed as a matter of future ar- 
ut. Bui out "• these new subjects ;i controversy arose 
w In. ii issued in w ;ir. It had searcelj been declared before the mat- 
t : m controversy was arranged to our satisfaction by the volunta- 
lof the enemy. What was our plain obvious course — the 
i ml of p >licj i — Sheathe the sword until it is a- 
tained whether the «1 i - {» ■ ^ t * - whiehhad been laid aside i'or future 
arrangement, and whieb, inconsequence of the adjustment of 
more pressing com erns, is now properly presented to notice, can or 
cannot beamicabh settled. Even tyrants pronounce war the "ulti- 
imi ratio regum" the 1 .i-t resort of prinees. Nothing can justify the 
exercise of force but the inability to obtain right by other means. You 
bad not supposed yourjust claims on the subjectof seamen unattaina- 
ble by negotiation or you would not have reserved them for years as 
a. subject f >r ni gotiation — A nd if thej be thus at tamable, how w ill 
r< . itrertoGod and the countrj for the blood and treasure use- 
lessly — criminalh expended : — This mode ol thinking, sir, seems 
in in- \. is t,and quite in accordance with the good old no- 

tions of practical morality — Besides it is the incumbent duty of 
bun who seeks j istice, iii st to render it. Whatever our claims on 
Great Britain might have been in relation to seamen, she was not 
without her claims on us. At a time when her floating bulwarks 
were her sole safeguard against slavery, she could not view with- 
out alarm and .1 the warriors who should have manned 
• bulwarks pursuing a more gainful occupation in American 
Our merchant ships were crowded with British seamen j 
deserters from their ships of, war, and all furnished 
with fraudulent protections to prove them Americans. To us they 
u>-\ — the} ate the bread and bid down the wages of 
native seamen whom it »,h our Brst duty to foster and encourage. 
To their own countrj they were necessary, essentially necessary, 
. w re wanted for her defence in a moment of unprecedented 
peril. Ought we not then, while seeking to protect ourdwnsea- 
im n t'i 'i ii I" • ■ i] Ijiiti^li service, to have removed from her seamen 
nptation to desert their country and to supplanl ours at 
borne ?■ — -M \ need I ask the qu istiou ? Four seamen's hit!, as it 
i» called, enaet I into a law •.. tr, isan acknowldgement 
thattl : to have been done — However deceptive some of its 
])i>i\'- ■ ar, :t>> verj pinnciplen to restore to Britain 
•i. and save our own from her service. Unless you be- 
I I ' is prioeipl it wus the meanest <-!' degradations at 
a lav — Vndifitwas right, then you had 
jiutiei »eek. Had you pursued this plain 
t of right, 1 id you suspended hostilities, you would have con- 
d also iii: 1 true policy of your countrv. An unconditional 
I ' mistier upon the revocatiou of the orders, or an 
i . ptance of the offer for an armistice, would have 
; aces which have since foully 



17 
distained «n:r military character were not then anticipated. The 
world would have believed} your enemy would have believed, that 
you suspended your career of conquest because the war had owed 

its origin not to ambition, hut to duty — because yon sought not 
territory, hut justice — because yon preferred an honest peace to 
the most splendid, victory; With the reputation of having Com- 
manded, by your attitude of armour, a repeal of the offensive or- 
ders, you would have evinced a moderation which must have secu- 
red t lie most beneficial arrangements on the question of seamen. 

But, sir, this was not done. IS'o armistice Could obtain the ap- 
probation of the executive, unless it was preceded by an abandon- 
ment, formal or informal, of the British claim to search for their 
seamen on board our merchant vessels. As an evidence of this 
abandonment, the exercise of the claim must, by stipulation, be 
suspended during the armistice, and this suspension was to be the 
price of its purchase. Even without an armistice, no "arrange- 
ment*- was to be deemed a fit subject for negotiation, which should 
not lie predicated on "the basis" of an exclusion from our vessels, 
by our laws, of their seamen, and an absolute prohibition of search 
to their officers. This, sir, was taking very lofty ground ; but at 
that moment the Canada fever raged high, and the delirium of fo- 
reign conquest was at its acme. In a few weeks the American flag 
was to wave triumphant on the ramparts of Quebec — The proposi- 
tion for an armistice from the governor of Canada was utterly in- 
admissible. In the language of oar secretary of state, it wanted 
reciprocity — "The proposition is not reciprocal, because it res- 
trains the United States from acting where their power is great- 
est, and leaves Great Britain at liberty, and gives her time to aug- 
ment her forces in our neighborhood." Mr. Russell did condescend 
to offer an armistice to the enemy, upon the condition of yielding as 
preliminary, even to a suspension of arms, all that could be extorted 
by the most triumphant war. — But even he, in his pacific proposi- 
tion, could not refrain from exulting at the glorious conquest that 
would inevitably he made, if submission was refused or delayed. 
" Your lordship is aware of the difficulties with which a prose- 
cution of the war, even for a short period, must necessarily embar- 
rass all future attempts at accommodation. Passions exasperated 
by injuries ; alliances, or conquests on terms which forbid their 
abandonment, will inevitably hereafter embitter and protect a con- 
test which might now be so easily and happily terminated." 

I cannot forbear, sir, from one remark at the "awful squinting" 
in this letter at an alliance with France. Gentlemen are sensi- 
tive when the possibility of such a connection is intimated. The 
very suspicion of such a design in the cabinet is viewed as a calum- 
ny. Here the accredited agent of the American executive pro- 
claims such a connection, such an alliance as inevitable — pro- 
claims it in an official communication to the public enemy.' The 
declaration is laid before Congress and the people by the Presi- 
dent, unaccompanied by any disavowal — The minister is not cen- 
sured — For his very conduct in this employment he is raised to the 
highest grade of foreign Ministers ; and in spite of the reluctance 

C 



18 

, , | M | uaU to confirm his nomination, he is pressefl upon them 

■ m the President until their assent to his appointment is extorted. 

[dwell not upon this topie, for 1 confess to you the honest fears 

onec congealed mj heart are now dissipated. The sun of 

mtia rri basbursl forth from behind the portentous eclipse 

"with fear of change" had perplexed the darkened world — 

Napoleon, no Longer Invincible, strip! of the false glare which 

plendid crime threw around In- character, is rio longer eulogised us 

• -:j|i i -i niiiuni." l)in denounced by the champions of administra- 

ii. i, as an •• usurper. ' No one Courts the friendship of a fallen 

t\ rant ! — 

It is not foi me to say in what manlier the dispute about sea- 
meu '. to be settled. On this subject 1 have no hesitation, how- 
cver, hi giving my general sentiments. It is the duty of this go- 
vernment to protect its seamen (I mean its native seamen) from the 
foreed service of any and every power on earth, so far as the 
strength of the country can obtain for them protection. True it 
i ii in my opinion the number of impressed Americans bears 
tin reasonable proportion' to the number alledged. 1 live in a state 
which, though ii carries not on an extensive foreign commerce, has 
many native seamen. At the moment of the declaration of war, 
the mquin was made whether a single native seaman of North 
Carolina was then detained by British impressment. I could hear 
of none. ! know that during our restrictive system many of oar 
sailors entered voluntarily into the British service, and when 
tired of ii complained that they bad been impressed — Instances 
have aetuallj occurred a( Plymouth and London, of men surren- 
dered a» impressed Americans, who afterwards boasted that they 
bad cheated their kin^. In the battle, 1 think, of the President 
and the Little Belt, a neighbor of mine, how an industrious far- 
mer, noticed in the number 6f the slain one or bis own name. llv. 
i iclaimed, there goes one of my protections. On being asked for 
an explanation, he remarked thai in bis wild days, when he fdl- 
lov. nl i he sea, it wis an ordinary mode of procuring a little spend- 
ing mone) to gel a protection from a Notary for a dollar, and sell 
it to ibr first foreigner whom it at all fitted for fifteen or twenty. 
i cted alien assumed, of course, the American name, and 
.!' impressed, claimed to be liberated under it. The examina- 
whieh have been bad before the committee of the Massa- 
chusetts legislature, and especially that of William Gray, Confirm 
'be belief ibai (be number of impressed Americans has been ex 

■ rated infinitely beyond the truth. But their number has been 
large enough to render the grievance a serious one — And be the\ 
more or |c~>. the right to the protection of their country is sacred, 
ami most be regarded. This government Would forfeit its claims 
i" i b,- respect and affection of its citizens if it omitted any rational 
- to secure the rights of American seamen from actual vio- 
lation. B ! to obtain this security by practical means. If you 
cannot bj substitute obtain an abandonment of the right or prac- 
tice to search our vessels, regulate it so as to prevent its abuse — . 
- i i the present, not relinquishing jour objections to ihi 



19 
right. Do all tlnit can fairly Ik* asked of you to supercede the 
necessity of the practice". When tliis is {lone, and you should 
nevertheless fail — whep war is rendered nepkssary to obtain a 
practical and reasonable security for American seamen againsf 
the abuses of impressment, then, sir, thai war is j [|s t- Whoever 
may question its expediency, none who admit that Mars may ey< l' 
he justly waged can feel any conscientious scruples in yielding ii 
support. This, sir, is no late opinion of mine. It has been long 
and publicly avowed — not indeed as a pledge to my constituents, 
as my friend and colleague (Mr. Murphey) h;is remarked — we dp 
not deal in pledges— but because it is my habit to be frank when 
no duty commands concealment — Nor is jt strange that 1 should 
feel attached to the rights of the American sailor. 1 am a native 
of the sea board. Many of the playmates of my infancy have he 
come the adventurous ploughmen ox the deep. Sea-faring men are 
among my strongest personal & political friends. Aiidforlheirtrue 
interests — their fair rights, 1 claim to feel a concern as sincere, 
and a zeal as fervent, as can he boasted by any gentleman from the 
interior, or from beyond the mountains, who has heard of them, 
hut knows^ them not. 

Has the prosecution of your scheme of invasion and conquest 
against the Canadas a tendency to secure these rights, and ad- 
vance these interests ? This, sir, is a momentous question, on 
which it is the duty of every man in authority to reflect dispast 
sionately, and with a fixed purpose to attain the truth. Unless 
this tendency he manifest, and morally certain, every motive 
which cap he addressed to an honest heart and intelligent mind, 
forbids its prosecution at the present moment. Make a fair com- 
parison of its certain or probable ills with its possible gains, and 
then pronounce the sentence which justice, humanity and policy 
demaud; and a suffering nation will bless your decision. 

It is not my design to consider the immense expenditure which 
this scheme has cost, and which a continuance of it will cost to 
this country.* Well worthy is this topic of consideration, espe- 
cially at a moment when industry is without encouragement, and 
external revenue is utterly destroyed. But it has been examined 
with great ability by gentlemen who have preceded me; especi- 
ally by the gentlemen from Connecticut and Virginia (Mr. Pitkin 
and Mr. Sheffey) and contenting myself with au earnest request, 
that their remarks be not forgotten, and that in your zeal for con- 
quest you do not beggar your people, I hasten to present other 
views which have not been so fully unfolded. 

* It was well remarked by Mr. Pearson, that the constitutional rule of as 
certaining the contribution of each individual to the satisfaction of the public 
debt, was to be collected from the system of direct taxes. Supposing the 
debt which will have been created by the Canada war by the close of the next 
campaign to be ninety mililions, every man may ascertain how much of 'lu'x pro- 
perty is mortgaged for its payments, by adverting to his portion of the direct 
tax. The whole amount of this direct tax is three millions. Multiplying, 
therefore, each man's direct tax by thirty, will give the share of the v>h<(lr 
debt, for which he maybe considered as liable. 



There is lometbing in the character of a war made upon the 
pr-ujjl, of a country, i» force them to abandon a government which 
they eherish, and to become the subjects or associates of their in- 
vaders, which n cessarilj involves calamities, beyond those inci* 

denl i dinar} war-. Among us some remain who remember the 

horrors of the invasion of the revolution — and others' of us have 
J» 1 1 1 1 _c with reverence on tin- lips <>1* narrative old age, as it related 
the interesting tale. Buch_awar is notacontesl between those 
mil) who seek for renown in military achievements, or the mora 
humble mercenaries whose "business 'lis in die." Ii breaks in 
upon all the charities of domestic life — and interrupts all the pur- 
suits of industry. The peasant quits Ins plough, and the mecha- 
nic i-> hurried from his Bnop, to commence withoul apprenticeship 
(he exercise of the trade of death. The irregularity oi* (lie re- 
sistance which i- opposed to the invader, its occasional obstinacy 
and occasional intermission, provoking every bad passion of his 
soldiery, is the excuse for plunder, lust and cruelly. These attro- 
cities exasperate the sufferers to revenge — and every weapon 
whieh anger can supply, and every device which' ingenious hatred 
can coneeive, is used to inflicl vengeance on the detested foe. — 
There is yet a war more horrible than this. As there is no anger 
sn deadly as the anger of a friend, there is no war so ferocious as 
thai which i« waged between men of the same blood, and former- 
lj connected by the closest ties of affection. The peri of the his- 
torian confesses iis inability to describe, the fervid fancy of the 
poetcannol realise, the horrors of a civil war. This invasion of 
Canada involves the miseries of both these species of war. You 
earrj fire and Bword amongst a people who are "united against 
you (say your generals) to a man;*' amongst a people who happy 
in themselves, satisfied with their condition, view you not ax com- 
ing to emancipate them from i brafdom, hut to reduce them to a fo- 
reigu yoke] a people long and intimately connected with the bor-i 
dering inhabitants of our country by commercial intercourse, by 
the ties of hospitality, b) the bonds of affinity and blood — a people 
as to every social and individual purpose, long indentifed with 
your own. It must bi that such a war will rouse a spirit of sanguina- 
ry feroeity, that will overleap every holj barrier of nature, and 
venerable usag^of civilization. Where will you find an authen- 
ticated instance of ibis ferocity, that more instantaneously com- 
pels the shuddering abhorrent fthe heart, than the fact assert- 

. mj eloquent friend from New-Hampshire, (Mr. Webster.) 
''The bayonet of the brother has been aetuallj opposed to the 
• of the brother." Merciful Heaven! Thai those who have 
been rocked in the same cradle by the same maternal hand — 
imbibed the first genial nourishment of infant existence 
from the same blessed source — ihould be forced to contend m im- 
pious strife, for the destruction of that being derived from their 
common par. uts! it should not be mi! Every feeling of our na- 
ture eriea aloud against it .' 

One subjeet is intimately connected with tliis Canadian war, 



21 
which demands the mosl thorough and deliberate examination. 1 
tremble to approach ii thus incidentally, lest 1 injure the cause of 
humanity aud truth, by a cursory vindication. And yet 1 dare 
not altogether omit it, becaose 1 fear an opportunity of lull con 
sideration will not lie presented] and it is of an urgency aud of a 
magnitude that forbid il to be overlooked. I mean, sir, the false- 
ly. called system of retaliation, which threatens to impart to the 
Avar a character of barbarity, which 1ms noi its parallel in the 
modem annals of Christendom. Twenty-three persons of our in- 
vading army, who were taken prisoners by the enemy at the hat- 
tie of Quecustown, in Canada, have been seal to England as Bri- 
tish subjects, to be tried for treason. To deter the enemy from 
executing the law upon these unhappy men, our executive has or- 
dered into close custody an equal number- — not of American citi- 
zens invading our country, (this would, indeed, be retaliation.) 
hut of British prisoners who have committed no crime. It is 
avowed that these shall he pu( to instantaneous death, if the men 
sent to England should he convicted and executed. The British 
government have proceeded in return, to confine a corresponding 
number of Americans as hostages for the safety of these British pri- 
soners, under the same determination and avowal. This has been 
again retaliated on our side, and the retaliation retorted by tho 
enemy, so that an indiscriminate and universal destruction of the 
prisoners on each side, is the menaced consequence of the exe- 
cution of one of the presumed Englishmen ordered home for 
trial. 

Before we enter upon this career of cold-blooded massacre, it 
behoves us, by every obligation which we owe to God, to our fel- 
low men, and to ourselves, to be certain (hat the right, is with us. 
and that the duty is imperative. If in a moment of excited feeling 
we should heedlessly enact the fatal deed which consigns thousands 
of the gallant and the brave, Americans and Britons, to an igno- 
minious death, and should afterwards discover that the deed was 
criminal, that the blood of the innocent is upon us, and the cries 
of their fatherless infants have ascended against us to the throne 
of the Most High; how shall we silence the reproaches of con- 
science; how atone for the wide spread and irreparable mischief; 
or how efface from the American name (he infamifus stain that 
will be stamped upon it? With motives thus awfully obligatory 
to a correct decision, we are in imminent danger of error, from 
causes of which we are not aware. A portion of our population, 
inconsiderable in number as compared with the whole mass, but 
influential, because of their activity, violence, boldness, and their 
controul of the popular presses — I mean, sir, that part of our na- 
turalized citizens, who, not content with pursuing the private oc- 
cupations of industry, undertake to manage the affairs of state, 
or teach us how they shouM be managed, have systematically and 
zealously laboured to disseminate false principles, and dseite 
prejudices and passions calculated to mislead the public mind. 
Divesting ourselves, as far as possible, from all hasty impressions, 
let us examine upon what foundation rests the right to put our 






ha 

e 



prisoni ' ' death, '" |i v ' " : ' r for the execution of the men wh 
nrr t<> be tried in England for treason. If it shall be, thai thes 

ire Dative subjects of Greal Britain, who have never pre- 

d to shake off their -allegiance bj naturalization hero, their 
crime in making war against their acknowledged country, and 
actual I j in iding its territories, i- bo manifestly treason; and the 
right of their country to punish such treason is bo complete, tli.it 
I w ill not presume it necessary to argue upon either of these topics. 
Iftheenemj has a perfect right to regard them as traitors, we 
eannot have the inconsistent right to avenge, with innocent blood, 
their j i-i doom. Hot it ma\ be, that some of them are British 
subjects naturalized in America. I believe this is not the fact. 
We have no official information; but from the most respectable 
unofficial sources, i learn it is not the fact. If it should be, how- 
evcr, a very interesting inquiry presents it-ell' — What is the effect 
of saturalization in severing the ties which bind a man to his na 
tiye country : and in requiring, as a^ainsl its claims, the protec- 
tion of his adopted country ? It is my conviction, that erroneous 
opinions prevail upon ibis point. Jt is a point on which thi> 
country, Burrounded by foreign territories, into which our citizens 
aic migrating i;i \.»-t numbers, has a verj deep interest to form 

t opini : n-. 
Every political association must he considered as originally 
founded on ;i contract between each of its members and the whole 
body. Baeh stipulates to yield obedience to the laws, and to re- 
frain from acts destructive of the existence of the slate — while the 
community, as such, stipulates to secure to each individual (he en- 
joyment of In* rights. The duration of such an association, if not 
defined bj the original compact, is necessarily unlimited. When 
;m\ of it- members is desirous to free himself from his engage - 
mi mi-, it i- manifest that he cannot do it by his own act. at his 
own. pleasure, for such a power would be utterly inconsistent with, 
tbc notion of an obligation. He can be released from his contract 
onlj upon the occurrence of some event which by the terms of the 
association it is stipulated shall have such effect, or by the con- 
sent of ib. community to which he was bound. As is the state of 
1 !•.•• original parties to the association such is that of their descend- 
ing. Children in every political community must he viewed as 
ceding to th rights, and with them to the consequent obliga- 
tions ofth .. parents — Hot for this principle the great inducement 
to the soeial state, the desire of providing for the security and hap 
; - of a family, would be annihilated, and the trammels of 'jp>- 
vernmentn ver would be submitted to. lint for this, that perpe 
• which keepi up the identity of a nation, although 
in individuals are all in a Btate of decay and renovation, which 
• i it a coi porate being essential to its action, is at once destroi - 
<d. Kniin these principles, or principles like these, it is that all 
i that when a political societj i-. formed, the funda- 

mental I J ni.w prescribe when and upon what 

j individual of it should be freed from his engage 

to d< fend it. That each s< cietj possesses this right i*. a priu 



23 
ciple of universal Law — No dietom e:ui be found to contradict i(. 
How such right slnill be exercised must of course depend on the 
Wisdom and virtue of the society iKclf, or of those who enact its 
laws. It must be perfectly obvious that in any case where the 
fundamental laws of the society do not permit the individual tore- 
lease himself from his engagement, the intervention of a third party 
cannot effect this release. A promise of A to B cannot he dis- 
charged by an act of C. The effect therefore which the naturali- 
zation in any country of the subject of another has upon the ori- 
ginal obligations of that subject to his native country must depend 
upon its laws, prescribing to what extent and under what circum- 
stances these original obligations may be lessened or destroyed. The 
institutions of different countries vary from eaeli other in this re- 
spect — some are more rigid and others more indulgent. But I know 
of but one state on earth, the state of Virginia, which allows the na- 
tive subject or citizen so completely to divest himself of his origi- 
nal character as to raise against her with impunity the hand of 
parricide. Virginia by a statute does permit a citizen by a formal 
deed executed before witnesses, acknowledged in court and record- 
ed, to quit claim and renounce his birth right, and thenceforth to 
he deemed as though lie never had been of the State. All other 
states in the civilized world impose this restraint, that their origi- 
nal subject shall never wage war against his country. 

With the fundamental laws of England in relation to this sub- 
ject, we have a perfect acquaintance. In general every man is 
there at liberty to quit the kingdom, to pursue abroad such occu- 
pations and enter into sucl*.engagements as he may find beneficial 
■ — hut on the express condition that he shall not violate his faith to 
his sovereign, the first great duty of which is, not to invade his ter- 
ritories, and war against his subjects. 1 was surprised to hear a 
gentleman from Kentucky, whose good sense and independence I 
much respect (Mr. Montgomery) argue that the permission to a 
British subject to leave his country was an implied consent that he 
might throw oft' all allegiance to it. Such an implication is done 
away by the very terms of the permission. The law is as old as 
Magna Charta, and has been uniform down to this day. "Liceat 
unicuique de cetera e.vire de regno nostra et redire salvo et secure 
per terrain et per aquam, salva fide nostra." 33d Article Abbot's 
edition of Magna Charta. "It may he lawful for every one here- 
after to go out of our kingdom, and return safely and securely by 
land and by sea, saving his faith to us." In the reign of Elizabeth 
occurred the case of Dr. Story, which gentlemen will find accu- 
rately reported, 2d Dyer, 298b. 304rb. A native of England, he 
had long quitted that country, had become a subject of Philip of 
Spain, and had actually been received as ambassador from Philip 
at the English court. He was indicted for treason — he pleaded, 
the fact of his having become a Spanish subject — the plea was 
overruled — he was convicted and executed. The case of colonel 
Townly occurred in 1716. He was indicted for treason in aiding 
in the rebellion of 1745, was convicted and executed, notwith- 
standing the fact of his having became a French subject; and bear- 



24 
in,' ;i French commission. The cage of /Eueas M-l)onald in the 
lam rear was more remarkable! He had left Scotland his native 
land, ■ mere infant, and ever afterwards resided iu France. Asa 

e( of the king of France, and an officer in bis army, he aceom- 
pani d ili-- Pretender in irt"> — was taken prisoner, indicted fur 
ion, and convicted. BLe was indeed not executed. The hard- 
ship of In-* fate excited eommiseration, and upon the recommen- 
dation of liis jnr) to mere] bii sentence was commuted into per- 
petual banishment. Ii isvain to multiply proofs. Nothing can 
be more certain than the English law in relation to its subjects na- 
turalized abroad waging war against iheir country. The law of 
Prance i* mere strict and equally precise. The edict of Trianon, 

id August 1813, wiili greai precision declares, "no French- 
man can be naturalized abroad without our consent, (that is of the 
Emperor)" — and thai "Frenchmen naturalized abroad, even with 
our permission, can at oo time carry arms against France, un- 
der pain of being indicted in our courts, and condemned to the 
punishment enaeted in the penal code — Hook 3. chapter 7.>." — 
During the French revolution in i7'j.>. a corps of emigrants 
whom oppression and brutal violence Lad compelled to quit their 
country, formed tin mselves into an army in the pay and enijdov- 
iii ni of Britain, and as -noli engaged in the ill-fated expedition to 
Quiberon. They were made prisoners and executed as traitors. 
What il our own law r In everj state of the union except Virgi- 
nia, ii i>, precisely the law which obtains in Great Britain. .\» 
man shall exempt himself from the obligation not to war against 
In* e*unin — and in Virginia even, he can only get rid of this obli- 
gation l>\ observing the stipulated forma which its law prescribes. 
Naturalization granted in another country has no effect whatever 
to destroy hi* original priman allegiance. A gentleman from \ a. 
(Mr. Eppes) informed us that under a British statute, two years 
voluntary service in their navy ipso facto naturalized a foreign- 
< i. He it -o. sir — Let us suppose that during our restrictions on 
commerce an American citizen, aVirginian for instance, who had 
net -on.- through the stipulated formalities of expatriation had en- 
U I'd on board the British na\ v. and after serving there two years, 

thus becoming a naturalized subject of George the 3d, bad 

j kfamouslj joined in the invasion of his native land — Suppose this 

miscreant taken prisoner heading a hostile band at the burning of 

Havre, oral the attroeious outrages of Hampton, and arraigned 

• in Levying war against the U. States — what defence 

COO id If made tut biin i |s there a gentleman in the bouse with any 

I uioni to legal science, who will so Par hazard bis reputation 
as to alledge that a defence could be made for him P Is there a 

io him land from those who adorn the bench of our supreme 
toart, down io lb,- humblest in capacity ami office, who could be 

amused b) the miserable sophistry, that naturalization in 
Britain repealed our La* of t reason ? No, sir — The traitor would 

id mned — inevitabl) condemned -. and if the president were 
! from executing the sentence by an insolent threat from 

in to put Minor, lit Americans to death in revenge for the just 



25 
doom of the convict, he would encounter the contempt and ex 
oration of his country. How is it then that we undertake by such 
menaces to deter the enemy from executing a like law under like 
cireumstanaes against her unnatural children ? 

This Ipw against the alienation of allegiance is no relict of tv- 
ranny — i ifounded in the analogy of nature, and essential to toe 
harmony) Jthe world. There is a striking similitude between the. 
duties of a citizen to his country, and those of a son to h is father. 
Indeed, sir, what, is the word country but a comprehensive phrase. 
embracing all those charities which grow out ol (hie domestic rela- 
tions of parents, children, kindred and friends ? When the hoy 
has attained manhood, and the father's ease is no longer necessa- 
ry to guard him from daily harms, he is at liberty to quit the pa- 
rental roof, to become th« inmate of another family, there form 
connections essential to his happiness, and take up-m himself obli- 
gations of respect and tenderness as t,he adopted son of other pa- 
rents. But is nature's first great bond utlerlj severed ? Can he 
return, at the bidding of his new friends, to ravage and destroy 
the home of his childhood, and pollute it with the life-blood of 
those from whom tie received life ? Would this be but an ordina- 
ry trespass, a common homicide, which provocation might extenu- 
ate, excuse,' or even justify ? An association, sir, formed by a re- 
surrection of the wretches who have died on the gibbet, would dis- 
dain such a principle in their code. What is the jargon of mo- 
dern expatriation but the same principle interpolated into the code 
of nations ? 

The peace and independence of every state, and of none more 
than ours, demand that the citizen should not be released from the 
just claims of his country by the interference of foreign powers. — 
Give to such interference this effect, and every nation is made de- 
pendent upon the arbitrary exercise of a foreign right to controul 
and regulate its vital cone rns. The Spanish dominions to the 
south, and the British territories to the north, have tempted from us 
many of our boldest spirits. Let them 150 — let them there enjoy eve- 
ry privilege (if they can find it) which in our happy country is giv- 
en to the fugitive European; every privilege which is ess* utiaj to 
their comfort — let them pursue in tranquility their industrious oc- 
cupations — realise the profits of enterprise, and be protected from 
every invasion of individual right. Jn return for these advanta- 
ges, let them, like the European whom we naturalize, render a 
cheerful obedience to the laws, perform every social dutv which 
is assigned to them, and contribute to the support of the govern- 
ment a fair proportion of their gains. But permit them not to for- 
get the country which gave them birth and protected their infancy. 
Suffer them not with impunity to be converted into hostile tribes, 
whose numbers may be swelled from day to day by the factious, 
the restless, and tiie criminal, who have but to pass an ideal line, 
and the duty of obedience is converted into the right to destroy. 

Unless I am greatly deceived, the law of England must be suf- 
fered to have its course with the individuals, if natives of Eng« 
land, and migrating to u? since the revolution, who .ire sent 

r> 



•ln-r f.»r trial— Wh< tl Tth J ought to be etecuted, If convicted 

ttion. Considering the intimate coiiiifeetiotl 

. tge ami i.i nun-is. and a long and inti- 

bavehcf daeed between lb» eouftu ies and 

i .;!• oftheirinhabi aw ■ : retncmbi 

i laws are oi n cruel in their application to particular 

y ht that country is bound by the strong- 
. i,. consult lh< diet utnaniw, and forbear the tad 

i rcise of i ight. Bol ii' these considerations should noi 
. .md the severe penalty of the law of treason is 
L8 of right i< rnaj in-, shall we, without right) with- 
nn> the semblance of law, coldlj murder those who an- in our 
power, who hate committed no treason against Us, and against 
whom trim.' i< ii. .1 |>. I- this called retaliation/—* 

Britain , N British traitors, serving in the African Armyj 

r • tried and con vieted of treason ? And we in return exe- 

eute — whom I A.meriean traitors serving in the British army* 
fl ,,j convicted of treason? No, but faithful, loyal raeiij 
ing arm* in the cahse of theirUative country! tried fay no 
offenders against uo law! sir. the pretension i- mnu- 
! have met with no instance of such a pretension being 
Lsserted in a civilized country. Did Philip of Spain retaliate; 
In this way for the execution of Dr. Story ? Did Prance retali- 
ate For the execution of Col. Townly . : l)i i Britain thus retaliate 
F the French emigrants taken at Quiberoti : I 
|, :n rheard it -til that Napper Tandy, an Irishman, naturalized is 
France, " a- sui rend< re I upon a threat of retaliation from France. 
J doubt ilie fact — the only e\ idence of it i-- in a note to an evident* 
h partial and one-sided account of his trial in a collection of 
. -,. :■■ u i authentic register have 1 been able to 

t. But if it were true, the note itself s'tates, thai die ground 
h was d d, was not that he had been naturalized 

by France, and thei Ii bletobi executed for treason ; hut 

ized at Hamburg, in h neutral ter 

y 9 and on; I. Theobald Wolfe Tone, Tandy'* 

and lil ' of France, hut not like him. ar- 

itory, was neither demanded nor 

' ' mned to death, he changed the~mode of its v 

eution by eommi Ing suicid d shall my eountry, claiming to 

rxcclinnnma v, ai <i excels in freedom, the nations of Europe) 

' , i. fii t to avow a monstrous, unfounded pretension, 

h ,,,l . ., it hj innocent blood r Shall it tench a lesson if bai • 

burdened rl I of slaughter, of which they wens 

I , -, it? Shall ii seeh to protect foreigners from the 

N of th< ir soi t the t st of i:s immolatin : its 

own native citizeni 'I i' doom a revolutionary Winchester, 

. »ham (ful death, becau; e ii cannot mm; 

i their legal fair ? 

in - •;'!< uces, and fl rem it not 
True courage shut*, not it • \ • 
i i result It views them steadily, and caltnljr re« 



21 
mblyeg whether t h«y opgljt to be encountered. Already has Urn 
Canadian war a charade V sufficiently cruel, as Newark, Uullalx 

and Niagara can testily* I*" 1 when tin: spirit of ferocity shall 
have been maddened by the vapour >t taming from the innocent 
blood thai shall stagnate around every depot of prisoners, then v\ ill 
ii become a war, not of savage, bul of demoniac character. \ our 
pari of it ma v, perhaps, be ably sustained^ Vnur waj through 
(he Canadas may be traced sif.ir oil', by the smoke of their burn* 
tpa villages. Vour path may be marked bj the blood of their 
is peasantry Von may render your Course audible by 
the frantic shrieks of their women and children. lint your 
own sacred spil will also be the spene of this drama of (iendf. 
Your exposed and defenceless sea-board, the sea-board of the 
south, wH I iuvite a terrible vengeance That sea-board which haf 

been sham fully neglected, and is at lliis moment w iihoutproterlion, 
has been already invaded. Hut an invasion, after the war shall 
Jiave assumed iis unmitigated form of carnage, and woe ? and 
wickedness, must be followed with horrors which imagination can, 
but faintly conceive. 1 will nottrust myself tp tell yqu all I ieejj 
aU my constituents feel upon this subject — Uul 1 will say to the 
gentleman from PenD/a. that when lie alludes tp the probability 
that an intestine foe may be roused to assassination and brutality, 
he touches a ehord that \ ihrates to the very heart- Yes, sir, 1 live 
iu a state whose misfortune it is to contain the materials <tutoi' 
Which may be made such a foe — A foe that will be found every 
where — in our fields, our kitchens and our chambers ; a foe, ig- 
norant, degraded by habits of servitude, uncurbed by moral re- 
straints — whom no recollections of former kindness will soften, 
and whom the remembrance of severity will goad to phrens-v— - 
from whom nor age, nor infancy, nor beauty will find reverence or 
pity — and whose subjugation will be but another word far extermi- 
nation — Such a foe. sir, may be added to lill up the measure of our 
calamities. Let me not be misunderstood — let no gentleman mis- 
conceive my meaning. Do 1 state these consequences to intimidate 
or deter you? I think better of my countrymen. I hope and be- 
lieve in the language of Wilkinson to Provost, that Americans 
will not be deterred from pursuing what is right by any dread of 
consequences. No. sir, 1 state them to rouse your attention and 
waken your scrutiny into the correctness of the course you are 
pursuing. II' on mature deliberation you are sure that you arc 
right, proceed, regardless of what may happen. 

Justum et tenucem propositi virum— 

Sifractus Ulnhatar orbls, 

I'mpa oidu m J'erieiit Ruinm. * 

* The mm resolved, and steady to liia trust, 

Inflexible to ill, and obstinately ju3tj 
i * * . ' * # 

Fi'nm oi^/s convulsed should all the planets fly, 
World crush on world, and ocean mix with sky ; 
KK, unconcewi'd, would view the falling whole, 
And still rn&intjui) tb* purpo.se of hi* soul. 



But - Hi •' well 1 you, before reflection is too late — Lot 

prejudice dictate the decision. If erroneous, its 
: bj a nation's miseries, am! by the world's 
abhorrent 

Mr ( li.ininui — Turning from this gloomy vieu of the effects of 
the Canada war, un attention is arrested by another consequence 
likelj i" follow Pr m it, on which I will not long detain yon, but 
which i> not lei inl r tin . nor I a alarming. In proportion us 
gentlemen become heated i:i their pursuit of conquest, and are 
baffled in their efforts to overtake it. the object becomes more va- 
luable in their estimation, and success is more indentified with 
ih ir pride. The conqu -i of Canada contemplated as an easy 
sp 1 1 1. without a fixed design either to keep it to secure, or surren- 
•1 ii to purchase rights, has from its difficulty swelled into an 
importance which causes it to be valued above all rights. Patri- 
otism was relied on to fill the ranks of the invading army ; hut it 
dri n sufficiently answer the call. These ranks, however, must 
be filled — is next resorted to — The most enormous price 

i. bid for - that was fever offered in any age or country. — 

Should t!ii> fail, what is the next scheme? There is no reserve or 
concealment. Ii has been avowed that the next scheme is a con- 
scription. I» is known that this scheme v, as recommended even 
at tin * by the war department — and that it was postponed 

Mill to trj first the effeet of an enormous bounty. The freemen 
of (hi* conntn are to be drafted from the ranks of the militia, and 
forced abroad as military machines, to wage a war of conquest I 
I bai <■ been aeeustomed to consider the little share which 1 have 
In the constitution of these United States, as the most valuable 
patrimony 1 have to leave to those beings, in whom 1 hope my name 
and remembrance to be perpetuated, lint 1 solemnly declare, that 
if such a doctrine be engrafted into this constitution,! shall re- 
,i as without value, and care not for its preservation. Even 
.'-. France, where man inured to despotism, has become so pas- 
tnd subservient, as almost to lose the faculty of feeling 
i. and the capacity to perceive it, even there, sir, the ly- 
r i . onscription rouses him to the assertion « » *" his innate free- 

dom, ilavery, in its most malignant form. — • 

»ir, not thi Ir ad of all the severe punishments,* ordained for 
j conscripts, not the " peine du boulet," the "travaux 
r death itself, can stupify him into seeming Bub- 
II. 11 yields onlj to absolute force, and is marched to the 



in Prance, by the most rigorous 

op ration. The 

iitsoftln refractory conscript, 

osal punish 

■ and imprisonment. The 

of eight | ounda weight, Fa it ro d to the 

' It is accompanied with hard labor ot* 

nry ' i afiuciiK nt. It lasts 

b, tlic embli m of his 

•" an craph ii h public labors 



29 

field of glory manacled and hand-cuffed. And is such, a principle 
tg' be introduced into our benign, our free institutions? Believe 
me, the attempt will be lain!. It cannot succeed but by military 
tenor — it will be the signal for drawing the sword at home. Ame- 
ricans are not fitted 1<> be the slaves of a system of French con- 
scription, the most detestable of the inventions of tyranny. Sir, 
I hear it whispered mar me, this is not worse than the impr< la- 
ment of seamen li is worse, infinitely worst;. Impressment for- 
ces seamen to serve in the public ship-, of their country, instead 
of pursuing their occupation in the merchant service. It changes 
their employment to one more rigorous, of longer continuance, of 
greater danger. But it is yet employment of the same kind — It 
is vet employment for which thej are fitted by usage and educa- 
tion. But conscription is indiscriminate in the victims of it.-, ty- 
ranny. The age not the pursuit of the conscript is the sole crite- 
rion of his fitness. Whatever be his habits', whatever his imme- 
diate views, whatever his designed occupation in life, a stern man- 
date tears him from the roof of his father, from the desk, the of- 
fice, the plough, or the workshop, and he is carried far from 
home to fight in foreign climes the battles of ambition. But, sir, 
if conscription were not worse than impressment. 1 should not lose 
my objections to it — 1 am not prepared to assent to the introduc- 
tion of either conscription or impressment into my country. For 
all the British territories in the Western World, 1 would not. — 
Fight for Bailors' Rights — yet rivet on our citizens a French con- 
scription! Fight for rights on the ocean, and annihilate the most 
precious of all rights at home: the right of a Freeman never to 
he forced out of his country ! How alarming is the infatuation of 
that zeal, which, in its ardor for attaining its object, tramples 
in the dust objects of infinitely higher price ! 

What is the probability of success in this scheme of conquest, 
is a topic on which 1 mean not to enlarge. It is not necessary 
that I should, for others have ably discussed it. That you may 
take Upper Canada, that you may overrun the lower province I 
believe. Bui that you will take Quebec, while the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence is commanded by a hostile fleet, I cannot believe: 
If an opposite thought sometimesget possession of my imagination, 
I find it springing from that impulse of the heart, which makes 
me fancy victory perched on the standard of my country, and not 
the result of an exertion of the understanding. But, sir, if you 
should conquer the Canadas, subdue Nova Scotia, and possess 
yourself of all the British territories in America : if after impo- 
verishing your country by ruinous loans, and grinding down your 
people by oppressive "(axes, you should wade at last through the 
horrors of invasion, massacre of prisoners, a servile war, aud a 
military conscription to the now darling object of your wishes — I 
pray you, what is then to be done ? What do yon design to do 
with the conquered territory ? We will keep it, say the gentlemen 
from Vermont & Perm. (Mr. Bradley and Mr. Ingersoll.) We will 
keep it because it is an object with our people; because it will keep 
otF Indinn wars ; and retribute us for the wrongs we have sus* 



30 
. 1. f !)• litre intfeed thai, if conquered, there will be a powtst^J 
party ta the north and west, 'In' will not consent to part with it, 

Willi whom ii i- an object. U n I linu slitill il be kcjii : As a eon 
■ I , iviuc . To retain it u tush against the efforts of an 
pe rated though eenquered people with in, and the exertions. 
I, proud and t. ii Ued enemj without, that enemy. 
mast ,1c in ipvade and i<> succour the invar 

will r,-ij:ii;r a military sii eugtb and a pecuniary expendif 
tnic nut U^-, Boulinued Driest in amount than wefe demanded to 
bake it. Bueb a conquest is never finished) when nominally eft 
fected it is to be begun. Bui are will incorporate it into the Union, 
Aye, this would In- indeed a pleasant result. Let my southern 
friends, let gentlemen who represent slave boldiug states attend 
to tin-. How Mould this project take at borne f What would 
th ir constituents gh e to lia\ e half a dozen new states made out of 
the Canada* i It i*., besides, so notable an expedient for strength? 
etriug the nation, and so perfectly in accordance with the princi- 
eiples of our form of governm lit. We ;uo u* force, men into an 
association the i rj lit ifwhiefa i.»/«vr</o>ji.aiid the breath of thai 
life unrestrained chou ! And to give vigor to the nation, we are 
to admit into \^ councils, and into a free participation of its pow- 
er, n n u bose dislike of Us government has been strengthen.) d into 
abhorrence by the exasperations of war, and all whose affections 
arc ixed upon it- em mv ! But at all events you are to keep t lie 
Canadas. What then will you do about sailors' rights ? You will 
not be a jot ii ai 'T to them then lhanyou are now . iiow w ill you pro- 
1 1*' .ii - or seek to procure them ? Will you then begin in good 
tamest, top utect or obtain them by naval means? Would it not 
he adi isable to attend to » f i i - declared obj ■«•' of the war now rather 
than wait until after the Canadian scheme ig eflfeete i i Perhaps 
you mean to k".-p Canada and abandon sailors' rights: if so, 
why nit ;i\<»w iii the people that it \s conquest you fight for, and 
■ot right? But perhaps ii is designed when the conqnest is ef- 
fected to give it . Britain as an equivalent for the cession, 
on her part, of seme maritime ri^ht ; for the privilege that our 
ihips shall not I bed for British sailors. Qn this question 
you maj make an arrangement practically securing ajl wc ought 
m.w to contend for. Ifos wild I hope make ii in the ponding 
iation: but that by a surrender of Canada after i( i* con- 
q I \"\\ bis) purchase from ber a disavowal or relinquishment 
•f the 1 1 ; ii. no man can beliei e who understands either the views qr 
the pi I i .inuc. i Sc people. They believe the rigbJ 
ial to tin ir n n 'I existence, to deter their seamen from ge- 
M »u, \.!l i ! uses in that enuntrj no regard it — we know 
I i- not a difference of opinion nmong an) description of poli- 
- in ili'- kingdom upon this subjeoL If they have anyiea* 
lousj nf Miii. (and 1 believe Home of tli il is net a jealousy 
i • i 1 1 ii., i i.i I extent — but of your fitness to beeome their corn- 
s' naval rival. Can it be belies ed fcheu that they u on Id 
of a claim, wliich surrendered, in their 
i and iuvigorates you, where alone they 



01 

are" apprehensive of a competition, for the sake of preventing an 
aceeision to your territory which extends your limits, while it takes 
Away from your strength ? Indulge nositch delusion. Were ('ami- 
da ;i thousand times more important t > Britain than ii is. it w ere j H 
of less value than he* naval power, For the sake of ii she would 
never yield a principle on which that naval power d.pends. No, 
sir, the return oi' conquered C mada, eVen With tht hoped for agen- 
cy in our fevor of tlu- Russian Emperor, would not wvigh a tea* 
ther in the scale Sgainst what she deems tier first great national 
Interest. As it regards too these fttneied exertions of Russia in 
our favor, gentlemen surely deceive themselves. However attach* 
id Russia may be to the most liberal principles of commercial in* 
tereoursc she never will array herself against the right of the'so* 
vereigrt to compel the services of his sea-faring subjects. On this 
head her policy i>- not less rigorous (to say the least) than that of 
England — 1 will not be more particular — a short lime will probably 
shew the grounds of my belief. 

But, sir, among the reasons for prosecuting the invasion of Oa* 
nada one has been gravely stated of a very peculiar kind. Canada, 
says a gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun) should be 
Invaded to protect our frontiers and sea-board from invasion — it is 
the most economical and effectual method of defence. Although 
this consideration presents nothing very splendid to our view, yet 
it would he worth all other reasons for the invasion if it were 
founded On fact. Rut ask the people on your frontiers and on your 
sea-board, and what will they say ? They will tell yen. that it is 
the invasion of Canada alone which endangers them. The most 
effectual defence to them would be an abuudument of your scheme. 
Sir, an invasion of the United States, but for the purpose of di- 
verting your forces from Canada or retorting on you the distresses 
of war, cannot enter into the scheme of British or Canadian poli- 
cy, it is not to be proseco d, but ;.'t vast inconvenience and ex- 
pence, with great loss of us ,il soldiers, under a certainty of ul- 
timate failure, and withou* iiope of g!ory or gain. The Canadian 
yeomanry, freed from tue terrors of invasion, will cheerfully re- 
sume their peaceful occupations — and such of the British regulars 
as are not required for ordinary garrison duty, instead of being 
employed in a miserable, predatory, yet destructive border warfare 
will be sent to mingle in the European strife where renown and 
empire are the mighty stake. Surely this is emphatically Ihe age 
and the government of paradox. A war for ''free trade" is v 
by embargo, and prohibition of all commercial intercourse — "sail 
ors^rights" are secured by imprisoning them at home, and >nt 
permitting them to move from place to place within their prison, 
but by a license from a collector like a negro's pass. & obtained on 
the security of a bondsman — and our frontiers and sea-board are to 
he defended by an invasion of Canada, which cau alone endanger 
an attack! 

But the real efficient argument for perseverance in the .scheme of 
Canadian Conquest has been giveti by th gentleman from Tennes- 
see {Mr. Grundy.) We made the war on Britain, savs tfe 



3S 

tlcmnn, and *hall ira restrict oursi Ives to defensn e measures ? For 
what purpose was ,v ' ir declared, il we « I «► nothing against the 
isions of the enemy ? Ves, sir, it is the consideration that this 
war was originally offensive on our > i * I • - . thai creates t he- J Pear, 
insuperable obstaoh to our discontinuance of it. It were vain to 
lain nt that gentlemen are under the influence of feelings which 
• ii> human nature. It would be idle to declaim against the 
sinfulness or the Pollj of false pride. Ml must admit that it is one 
of the greatest efforts of magnanimity, to retracl a course public* 
l\ taken, and on the correctness of w hich reputation is staked, if 
honorable gentlemen could but perciye thai this difficult} is one of 
^> i in.- only, and of pride opposing their country's best interests, I 
I thai ill \ eould, and believe mani of them would, make the 

effort. Painful as may be the acknowledgment of political error, 
ye( if the] clearly saw that either 'his humiliation must he endur- 
ed, or the nation ruined, tliety could not hesitate in their choice 

een sueh alternatives. But, sir, I wish not to prsesent such 
■Jtenatives to their election. Bo difficult is it to produce a convic- 
tion, against which the pride of the heart rebels, that I will not 
attempt it Gentlemen are nol called on to retruct. They may 
roh suspend the execution of their scheme of invasion without un 

iwledgmenl of its error. They may now without humiliation 
I : i tbemsi les to d Pence, although the war was in its origin 

sive. A second Favorable opportunity is presented of restor- 
ing tranquility to our once happy eountry. The first, the revoca- 
tion of the orders in council, was suffered to pass unimproved. 
Let not this be lost — a third maj not shortly occur. Your enemy 
lias invited a direct negotiation for the restoration of peace. Tour 
executive has acc< pted the off r, and ministers have been appointed 
to m el the commissioners of the opposite party. This eireum? 
mi jhl to produce an entire and essential change in your 
policy. If the executive be Bineere in the acceptance of this 

isition he mast have acted on the hope that an amica- 
ble adjustment of differences might he made. And while 
there is sueh a hep', sueh a prospect, on what principle can you 
justify invasion and conquest P Force is the substitute, not the 
eoadjutorof negotiation — Nations fight because they 
i treat. Bverj benevolent Peeling and correct principle are 
• fusion ol' blood, and an extension of mis 'ry, which 
are Imp .i ■•< ' fig necessity ■.•Inn.' which furnishes 

their i lo no1 then at the moment when you avow a belief, 

ty exists not, puisne a conduct 

-. inhuman ; ud detestable. 

sir, if > '>n .1: li to obtain peaoe 

1, suspend, : 1 the mean time, offen • 

. « 1 '. 1 n il Paeilital •. an ■• ly prevent the accom- 

| icnt of your object. Think you thai ftril in is to be inti- 

• j tur menaced invasion of her territories ? li' she had 

I bj experience how harmless are your threats^she 

In mi li but little cause for fear. She knows that 

I be com pi. 1 1 in one, not in two campaigns; 



33 
And when she finds thai efery soldier whom you enlist, u to eoct 
you in bounty alone upwards of 100 guineas," she will perceive 
that the war is more destructive to your finance, i!m- great Bource 
of military strength, than (i» her territories. The bluw aimed at 
her, recoils upon yourselves. Rut the exasperations which must 
result from the wrongs mutually iifflicted in llie course ofthe 
campaign, may have a very injuriousteftect upon the disposition to 
pursue pacific, efforts. They will be apt to create a temper on 
each side, unfavorable to an amicable arrangi m •(. In truth, too, 
sir. )ou are not prepared for such a campai ;n, as in honoi and 
humanity you raw alone permit yourselves I carrj on. Suppose 
by the month of May or June, you raise your men — W lift t are 
they? Soldiers, fitted I o take care of themselves in cam;', and 
support the reputation of your arms in the B -id ? >» — the) are a 
mere rabble of raw recruits — March li, ni to Canada, and 
pestilence will sweep them off bj regiments and brigades — 
while the want of discipline will ti. ih those, whom pesti- 
lence spares, for an honorable contest with an experienced Foe — 
Instead therefore of the hurry and bustle of filling your ranks 
with recruits and rushing with them into Canada, atten I rather to 
the training and improvement of those now in service. Make. 
soldiers of them — by gradual enlistments you may regirlarh add 
to ilieir number, and insensibly incorporate the new 1 ■•• ies with 
disciplined troops If it should heTeai'tei become necessary to 
march into the fie!.!, yon will then have an avuuj under your com- 
mand, not a multitude without subordination. Suspend, there- 
fore, hostilities while you negotiate. Make an an istice until 
the result of the negotiation is ascertained. You can lose noth- 
ing — you may gain every thing by such a course- — Then negoti- 
ate fairly, with a view to obtain for your native seamen a practi- 
cal and reasonable security against impressment — and with a dis- 
position to aid Britain in commanding the services of her own. — 
Such an arrangement might have been made on the revocation of 
the orders in council, could yon have been then satisfied with any 
thing short of an abandonment ofthe British claim to search. I 
doubt not but that it may now be made — more you probably can- 
not obtain. The time may come when, with greater effect-, you 
can prefer, if necessary, higher claims. All is hazarded by pre- 
cipitately urging more than your relative strength enables you to 
enforce. Permit your country to grow — Let no just right he aban- 
doned — Jf any be postponed, it maybe adi meed at a more op- 
portune season, with better If you will quit 
this crusade again t Canada, and seek peaci in the spirit of ac- 
commodation — and (permit me to add) if you ..'illfprego your em- 
pire schemes of .embargo and commercial restrictions — you will 
restore harmony at home, and allay that wide spread, and in some 
places alarming spirit of discontent (bat prevails in our land. — 
And if your pacific [forts fail, if an obstinate and implicable foe 
will not agree to such a peace as the country i an with credit ac- 
cept, then appeal to the candor & Bpirit of yon; people for a eon- 

* Tlie bounty to eac 1 ! soldier is one hundred and twenty-four dollars, cash, 
and one hundred and sixty acres of land, which, at two dollar-' per acre, is 
three hundred and twenty dollars — in all, four bundred and forty-four dollars, 
besides the eig-lu dollars per man to the recruiting- agent. * 



34 
ttitutional support, withafull assurance, that such an appeal un- 
der sueb circumstances, cannot be made in vaiu. 

It h) time, Mr. < Rairman, that i should release you from the 
fatigue of hearing me. There i^ bul one more tepic to "which I 
solicit your' attention. Many admonitions have been addressed to 
the minority by gentlemen on the ministerial side of this bouse, 
not \\ ithout merit, and 1 bope not without edification, on the evils 
of violent opposition 6. intemperate party spirit, li is not to be de- 
nied ihai opposition maj exceed all reasonable bounds c\ a minority 
become factious. But when I hear it seriously urged, that tliena- 
tare of our government forbids thai firm, mahly, actii e opposition, 
which in countries less free is salutary ami necessary — and when I 
perceive all the dangers of faction apprehended only on the hide of 
a minority — i witness but new instances of thai wonderful ductili- 
ty of the human mind, whieh in its zeal to effect a favorite pur- 
pose, begins with the work ol self deception. Why,sir, will not 
our I'm in <>i' got .■; ument tolei :•;• or require the sahft ardour of con- 
stitutional opposition, whieh is desirable in one wherein the chief 
magistrate is hereditary ? "because, says (he gentleman from 8. 
Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun) in a monarchy ihe influence of the exe- 
cutive and his ministers requires continual vigilaw e, lest it ob- 
tain too great a preponderance — but here the executive springs 
from i! e pi aple, can do nothing without their support, and can- 
Uot, therefore overrule and eontrbul t lie public sentiment." i-ir, 
let ns not stop at the surface of things, fhe influence of the exe- 
cutive in mis country, while he retains his popularity, is infinitely 
greater than that of a limited monarch. It is as much stronger 
a^ the spasm of convulsion is more violin! than the voluntary ten- 
sion of a muscle. The warmth of feeling excited duriug-the con- 
test of an election, and the natural zeal to uphold him whom they 
have chosen, create between the Executive and his adherents a 
connection of passion — wl'ilr the distribution of office and emolu- 
ment adds * communion of interest — which combined produce an 
Union almost indissoluble. " Support the administration'" becomes 
a watch-word, which passes from each chieftain of the Dominant 
Party to his subalterns, aud thence to their followers in the ranks, 
till the President's opinion becomes the criterion of orthodoxy, 
and bis notions obtain a dominion over the public seutiment,whieh 
facilitates the most dangerous encroachments, and demands the 
most jealous supervision. In proportion n> a government i* free. 
'h. spirit of liold inquiry, of animated interest in its measures, 
>f firm opposition where thej are not ap'proved, becomes es« 

sential La its piiritj and continuance. And lie. who in a demo- 

cracj or republic attempts to control the will of the popular idol 

of the day, maj env) the luxurious ease, with which ministerial 

ih are apposed and thwarted in governments which are 

free, lutein p ranee of party, m herei er found, never will meet 

i an advocate in me. It i^a most calamitous scourge to our 

country; ihe baue of social enjoyment, of individual justice,"and 

of pu • mfriendlj to the best pursuits of man, his ihter- 

n] 'ii, duty; i± renders u eless, or even pernicious, the high* 

M W ' '* X "Oowit.dl. ei, ami the noblest dispositions of the 

•mifr »ufj -■ . -,'i;iir\ •!■ mJij be the e\iis necessarily inherent 

m ilui . . are then must enormous and desolating 

• throne of power! and vested withalj tin 



35 

attributes of rule. I mean not to follow the gentleman from South 
Carolina over the classic ground of Greece, Carthage and Rome, 
to refute his theory, ami show that not to vehement opposition, 
but to the abuse of factious and intolerant power their doom is to 
be attributed. Nor will 1 examine some mere modern instances of 
republics, whose destruction lias the same origin. The thing is 
no longer matter of discussion. It has passed into a settled truth, 
in the science of political philosophy. One who on a question of 
historical deduction, of political theory, is entitled to high respect, 
has given us an admirable summary of the experience of republics 
on tliis interesting inquiry . In the 10th number of the federalist, 
written by Mr. Madison, we find the following apt and judicious 
observations: "By a faction 1 understand a Dumber of citizens, 
whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who 
are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or of 
interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent 
and aggregate interests of the community." 

"The inference to which we are brought, is that the causes of 
faction cannot be removed ; and that relief is only to be so.ight in 
the means of controuling its effects. If a faction consists of less 
than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle 
which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular 
vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society ; 
but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the 
forms of the constitution. When a majority is included in a fac- 
tion, the form of popular government on the other hand enables 
it to sacrifice to its riding passion or interest, both the public 
good, and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public 
good and private rights against the dangers of such a factiou. 
and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of po- 
pular government, is then the great object to ivhich our encptiries 
are directed. Let me add that it is the great desideratum by 
which alone this form of government can be rescued from the op- 
probrium, under which it has so long laboured, and be recommend- 
ed to the esteem and adoption of mankind." 

If this doctrine were then to be collected from the history of the 
world, can it now he doubted since the experience of the last 25 
years? Go to France, once revolutionary, now imperial France; 
and ask her whether, factious power, or intemperate opposition, 
be the more fatal to freedom and happiness? Perhaps at some mo- 
ment when the eagle eye of her master is turned away, she may 
Whisper to you, to behold thedemolition of Lyons, or the devasta- • 
tion of La Vendee. Perhaps she will give you a written answer. 
Draw near to the once fatal Lamp-post, and by its flickering 
light read it as traced in characters of blood that flowed from the 
gulloline. " Faction is a demon ! Faction out of power, is a de- 
mon enchained ! Faction, vested with the attributes of rule, is a 
Moloch of destruction !" 

Sir, if the denunciations which gentlemen have pronounced 
against factious violence, are not merely the images of rhetoric 
pomu-~if they are, indeed, solicitous to mitigate the rancour of 
party feuds — in the sincerity of my soul 1 wish them success. It 
is melancholy to behold the miserable jealousies and malignant 
suspicions which so extensively prevail, to the destruction of so- 
cial comfort, and the imminent peril of the republic. On this 



36 

jec< 1 liav< 'I iiiiieli — iio! merely in the intervals stolen 

from the bust! oi busim is, or the gaieties of amusement, bui in 
lite moments nl' "depression 1 and solitude^" the tnosl favorable, to 
ihc eoi reetiou of error. For unc, i am m tiling iu bring ;i portion 
ui pnrtj feeling, and part-, prejudice, a- an oblation at the shrine 
nl' my country. But no ojffl ring can avail puiy thins, if not nude 
mi lite part of tliugc who ire lite political favorites of the day. 
On them it i^ incumbent to come forward and set the magnanimous 
example — Approaches -or concessions on the side of the minority 
would In' misconstrued into indications of timidity, or of a han- 
V ■ i in,- I'm favor, lint a spiiit nl' conciliation arising from those 
juulis would be bai|e,d as the harbinger of sunny days, as a chal- 
i" liberality, and to a generous contention for the public 
weal. This spirit requires not any departure from deliberate 
opinion, unless il is shown to be erroneous — such a concession 
would be a dereliction of duly — lis injunctions would be but few, 
and il is in be hoped not difficult of observance — Seek to uphold 
your measures bj the force of argument, not of denunciation— 

iii e not opposition i<> your notions with offensive epithets 

1 . • prove nothing but yoorangi r or your weakness. Scare sure 
I i em rate a spirit of " moral resistance" not easily to be check- 
ed or turned. Give to presidential views constitutional respect, 
bul suffer them not to sup irsede the exercise of independent in- 
quiry — Encourage instead of suppressing fair discussion, so that 
who approve not may at least have a respectful hearing — 
I bus, without derogating a particle from the energy of your mea- 
sures, you would impart a tone to political distentions which 
would ucprivt them of tluir acrimony, and render them harmless 
• nat . •■'. 
The nominal part} distinctions, sir. have become mere cabalistic 
Ii ia no longer a question whether according to the theory 
of our constitution, there is more danger of the federal encroaching 
on lite state governments, or the democracy of the state governments 
paralisiug the arm of federal power — Federalism and democracy 
have losl their meaning. Ii is non a question of eommerce, peace, 
• id uuion of the states. On i!:is question, unless the honesty and 
intelligence of the nation shall confederate into one great Ameri- 
can part} . disdaining petty office-keeping and office-hunting \ iews, 
defying alike the ius ilence i i' the popular prints, the prejudices of 
n, and' the dominion of executive influence — 1 ft ar a decision 
will be pronounced fatal to the hopes, to the existence of the na- 
tion, in this question I assuredly have a very deep interest — but 
ii ii the interest of a citizen ouli — My publie career I hope will 
not continue long. Should it please the disposer if events to per- 
mit ui' to seethe great interests of this nation confided to men 
who will secure its rigl Is b) firmness moderation and impartiality 
abroad, ami at home cultivate the artsof peace, encourage honest 
industry in all i(^ branches, dispense equal justice to all classes of 
tl community, and thus administer the government in the true 
spirit of i lie ebitstitutioi . as h trust for i he people, not as the pro 
I parly, ii w ill he t., me titter I) uuimportant by whatpo- 

if hi t iliey ma) be characterized — As a private citizen, 
: I for the blessings I inaj enjoy, and yielding a prompt pbe- 
lo ten legitimate demand that can be made upon me, 1 
ith«ll rejoice, :1s far as raj little sphere maj extend, to foster the 
, '-ii! M- ise who surround me. 



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